Association of communities in the Evangelical Church in Schleswig-Holstein
The Association of Communities in the Evangelical Church in Schleswig-Holstein e. V. (Community Association) is an association of Christians who represent the concerns of Biblical-Reformation Pietism within the Evangelical Church . The association, based in Kiel , is made up of 17 communities that are active in 71 locations in Schleswig-Holstein . The community association is a member of the Evangelical Gnadauer Gemeinschaftverband e. V.
history
On the 1st of Advent 1857, the "Association for Inner Mission in Holstein" was founded on the Bornholdt farm in Aspern near Barmstedt . In 1860, Hinrich Hieronymus Sommer was appointed the association's first “messenger” . The first community house was inaugurated in Elmshorn in 1877 , and another in Neumünster in 1886 .
In 1888 the first "Gnadauer Whitsun Conference" was convened in Gnadau near Magdeburg . In the same year the inauguration of the orphanage " Elisabethheim " in Havetoft , whose founder was Pastor Johannes Witt . Pastor Johannes Röschmann from Itzehoe was appointed the association's first inspector in 1891.
In 1892 the still existing bookstore G. Ihloff & Co. was founded in Neumünster. In 1892 the first unified songbook of the German community movement was issued (" Reichs-Lieder German community songbook ").
The “German Association for Protestant Community Care and Evangelism” (“ Gnadauer Association ”) was founded in 1897 from the former “German Evangelization Association”, which had meanwhile been given other names . Between 1897 and 1904 the community houses in Uetersen , Barmstedt , Kiel , Lübeck , Glückstadt , Sonderburg , Bredstedt , Möllmark and Wilster were inaugurated . On December 18, 1904, the youth association " EC-Nordbund " was founded.
On July 24, 1907, the association for Inner Mission was entered under the name "Community Association in Schleswig-Holstein" in the register of associations of the Neumünster District Court under number 2. It is thus one of the oldest associations in Schleswig-Holstein.
From 1960, a site in Karlsminde on Eckernförde Bay was leased. In the following years a leisure camp was established here. On May 22, 1981, the "Recreation and Arming Center" at Wittensee (later: "Recreation and Education Center Wittensee") opened in Bünsdorf .
After the opening of the German-German border, partnerships between communities from the Mecklenburg Community Association and the Schleswig-Holstein Community Association developed in 1989/90.
In 1996 a congress of the Willow Creek Community Church took place in Hamburg. As a result of this congress, church services and other events in the communities gain creativity in the following years.
With an amendment to the statutes in 2006, the name of the association was changed to “Association of Communities in the Evangelical Church in Schleswig-Holstein e. V. ”changed.
Fathers of the community movement
Hinrich Hieronymus Sommer (1804–1861)
Hinrich Hieronymus Sommer was born on March 23, 1804 in Husum. Like his father, he learned the craft of shoemaking. He married on May 26, 1835 in Husum. Hinrich Hieronymus Sommer is one of the founders of the new Inner Mission association in Schleswig-Holstein. In its first statute he was named as the “spokesman” who, as the spokesman for the board in 1857, played a key role in bringing together the community groups scattered across the country. The association appointed him in 1860 as the first permanently employed "messenger". Sommer traveled all over the country, visiting 131 places in ten months, preaching and giving lectures. In addition to his grueling travel service, he also learned Danish, English and also Greek in order to be able to read the New Testament in his mother tongue. But the stresses and strains of traveling tore at his already poor health. On December 20, 1861, Sommer died in his hometown.
Jasper von Oertzen (1833-1893)
Jasper von Oertzen was born on August 10, 1833 in Rostock as the son of the Mecklenburg Prime Minister. After working in the Austrian army, which he had to give up because of a lung disease, and as a farmer on an estate that his father had bought for him, Johann Hinrich Wichern discovered the philanthropic qualities of the nobleman and won him over as a deacon and householder for the Rauhe Haus in Hamburg. There von Oertzen worked with a lot of love and skill among young people who were just as difficult to raise as he was in his youth. From 1875 to 1884 he then headed the Hamburg city mission founded by Wichern . Baron Jasper von Oertzen - like his sponsor Wichern - was just as concerned with the people and the Inner Mission as the home in the Lutheran Church. Both qualified him for the management of the community association. From 1875 until his death in 1893 he was its chairman. At the same time he was chairman of the North German Youth Association (from 1880), chairman of the Christian Association of Young Men (from 1885), member of the board of the Rauhen Haus, co-founder and chairman of the first three Gnadauer Conferences of 1888, 1890 and 1892, chairman of the German Evangelization Association, Chairman of the Johanneum Evangelist School, Chairman of the German Committee for Evangelical Community Care and Head of the Sophienhof Drinking Asylum in Mecklenburg. In the direction of the former Association for Inner Mission, it was important to Baron Jasper von Oertzen that the community association remains a movement within the church. He looked beyond the sphere of activity of his own community association and also took part in bringing together the community movement throughout Germany. The commissioning and promotion of employees was also an important concern for him. So he has z. B. the number of "messengers" continuously increased from two to twelve. Baron Jasper von Oertzen died on November 14, 1893.
Johannes Röschmann (1862–1901)
Johannes Röschmann was born on October 12, 1862. After graduating from high school, he completed a theology degree in Kiel and Erlangen. He was then given a pastor's post in Itzehoe. Johannes Röschmann maintained close contact with the community association and became the first inspector of the association's history in 1891. The club bookstore was founded at Röschmann's suggestion, and together with the publishing director Gustav Ihloff , he brought his own hymn book onto the market: The “Reichslieder” became the most sought-after songbook in the German community movement for decades. In 1893 Röschmann took on a new role in Hamburg. In the few years up to his untimely death in 1901, he built up a considerable team work there. This brought about, among other things, the stately club house on Holstenwall and the “Elim” hospital. Pastor Johannes Röschmann died on July 17, 1901.
Johannes Witt (1862-1934)
Johannes Witt was born in Paris in 1862. He was the second inspector of the “Association for Inner Mission” and brother-in-law of his predecessor Johannes Röschmann. In 1895 he moved with his wife to Kiel, where in the following year he founded the “Kiel Mission” as a German branch of the “ China Inland Mission ” and worked as a “community pastor” in the local community after the construction of the Evangelical Mission House. After there had been disagreements about himself in the community association and he had distanced himself more and more from the Protestant regional church, he resigned from the office of inspector in 1899. Until 1904 he worked as a mission leader in China and then came back to Kiel. In 1905 the Kiel community split. Witt managed “his” Kiel community until his death in 1934. He continued the “Kiel China Mission” as a private mission until 1921. Then this was sold to the Breklumer Mission .
Andreas Graf von Bernstorff (1844–1907)
Andreas Graf von Bernstorff was born on May 20, 1844. After initially working in the diplomatic service - like his father - he worked as a district administrator in Ratzeburg for a few years before he was appointed to the Ministry of Culture in Berlin. Church construction was his department there. During his time as honorary chairman of the communities in Schleswig-Holstein from 1894 to 1907, construction issues were important to him there too. It was very important to him to have the association in his own houses and took great pleasure in opening a new community center almost every year. In addition, the trained lawyer took care of the legal organization of the association. Thanks to his extensive relationships, he initiated the registration of the association in the association register. A few months after Andreas Graf von Bernstorff's death, the association officially became legally responsible in 1907.
Other formative personalities
Hans Werner von Tiele-Winckler (1865–1914)
Hans Werner von Tiele-Winckler was born on February 22, 1865. Growing up in a wealthy family, his father gave him the Rothenmoor estate (near Dahmen in Mecklenburg) and a sugar factory when he left home . After von Tiele-Winckler became a Christian, the estate became a meeting point for many Christians who sought encounter and pastoral care here. Von Tiele-Winckler had his manor house expanded by a hall for 200 visitors, invited evangelists and held theological conferences. In 1907 he became chairman of the Mecklenburg and Schleswig-Holstein joint associations. He died shortly after the First World War began in October 1914.
Gustav Ihloff (1854–1938)
Gustav Ihloff was born on August 3, 1854. He began a career as a civil servant in the postal service. After he became a Christian, he moved to Segeberg in 1880 to take on a job as a “messenger”. The then chairman of the community association, Jasper von Oertzen, brought him to Neumünster in 1882 as the association's secretary. Gustav Ihloff worked there in many ways. He is considered the actual founder of the Neumünster community. In 1892 he became a publisher in the club bookstore and published several magazines. At the same time he was inspector of the association from 1907 and in 1914 also became its chairman. The fact that he went completely blind in 1915, after three of his sons had died in the war in a very short time, did not prevent him from fulfilling his offices and duties. It was not until 1923 that he was able to give up the task of inspector, and in 1934 - at the age of almost 80 - also the task of chairman. Gustav Ihloff died in Neumünster on June 26, 1938.
Karl Möbius (1878–1962)
Karl Möbius was born on July 27, 1878. He became a Christian at the age of 14. As a trained antiquarian and bookseller, he came to Neumünster in 1901 at the age of 23 and began working for the Ihloff company. The collaboration with his future father-in-law Gustav Ihloff was very successful. The publishing house and the community association benefited considerably from the prudence and inventiveness of these two men. In the 1930s Möbius was an extremely social boss for around 100 employees in the company. Möbius also observed and commented on political developments with a keen mind. Since 1934, chairman of the community association, he fearlessly warned of the errors and crimes of National Socialism and saved the communities from being overwhelmed by this disastrous movement. A writing ban was then imposed on Möbius. The hands of the editor of various magazines were tied. Instead, he switched to maintaining contact with the communities through personal letters. A bombing raid at the end of the war destroyed more than 5,000 volumes of a unique library and archive that Möbius had tirelessly amassed over 30 years. Karl Möbius was able to complete another life's work, the “History of the Evangelical Book Trade”, before he died on May 5, 1962.
Alfred Korthals (1905–1997)
Alfred Korthals was born on November 10, 1905. He was versatile as a preacher and evangelist, as a pastor and musician. He also turned out to be a charismatic leader and unmistakably shaped the Schleswig-Holstein community association in this way. Through his service in youth and educational work, which he supplemented with new impulses in the field of music, Korthals promoted and shaped the post-war generation lastingly. It was important to him to invite people to believe in Jesus Christ in ever new forms and words. After more than 20 years as a preacher, most of which he completed in Flensburg, Alfred Korthals was elected chairman of the community association in 1951. In the same year he was appointed inspector. In this double function, Alfred Korthals redesigned the community association. It was important to him to lead the local communities out of isolation and to create an awareness of the supra-regional context. Theologically, too, he broadened the horizons of the communities without losing sight of the firm commitment to the truth of the Bible. After retiring from active service in 1973, Korthals remained a sought-after pastor and advisor for many. Until his death on September 18, 1997, he took an active part in the work of the association.
Nicolaus Jessen-Thiesen (1928–2012)
Nicolaus Jessen-Thiesen was born on October 20, 1928. Professionally, he worked as a farmer and also held numerous honorary positions. For decades he was the mayor of his hometown Ahneby and exercised various church offices with theological judgment and ecclesiastical political vision, from the local church council to a member of the Synod of the Evangelical North Elbe Church . In 1976 he took over the role of chairman of the community association. The trust that Nicolaus Jessen-Thiesen enjoyed from his participation in the North Elbian Church on the one hand and in the management function of the Association of Communities on the other, he used to work intensively to ensure that the relationships between the communities and the Church were placed on solid ground. In the "Joint Declaration" of 1977 and its amendment from 1990, it was possible to manifest the bond with the Church. At the same time, the communities were given far-reaching freedoms: Since then, there has been a reliable basis, especially for the practice of official acts. Nicolaus Jessen-Thiesen assumed the role of chairman of the Association of Communities until 1997. In addition to his duties in Schleswig-Holstein, he also took on responsibility for the umbrella organization of the German Community Movement, the Evangelical Gnadauer Community Association, and was a member of the board there. He died on January 12, 2012.
Hans Repphun (born 1930)
Hans Repphun was born on January 9, 1930. After working as a preacher in Ratzeburg and Neumünster, he was assigned the duties of inspector of the community association in 1972. The always humble Hans Repphun worked diligently and carefully to consolidate the association internally and externally. He set up an annual short Bible school to train the volunteer workers. In order to create the external framework for free time and encounters, he worked very intensively with some preachers to build a leisure home. The recreation and education center at the Wittensee was opened in 1981. Hans Repphun retired in 1993. Since then he has volunteered in hospice work in his place of residence and in keeping the archive of the Association of Communities.
Chairperson
- 1874-1875 James Craig
- 1875–1893 Baron Jasper von Oertzen
- 1894–1907 Count Andreas von Bernstorff
- 1907–1914 Baron Hans Werner von Tiele-Winckler
- 1914–1934 Gustav Ihloff
- 1934–1943 Karl Möbius
- 1943–1951 Johannes Goßmann
- 1951–1973 Alfred Korthals
- 1973–1975 Walter Lohrmann
- 1976–1997 Nicolaus Jessen-Thiesen
- 1997–2018 Enno Karstens
- Deputy Chairman Gunter Krahe on a provisional basis since 2018
Inspectors
- 1891–1893 Pastor Johannes Röschmann
- 1893–1899 Pastor Johannes Witt
- 1907–1923 Gustav Ihloff
- 1923–1935 Albrecht Voss
- 1940–1949 Johannes Goßmann
- 1949–1951 Heinrich Uloth
- 1951–1972 Alfred Korthals
- 1972-1993 Hans Repphun
- 1993–2017 Thomas Hohnecker
- since 2017: Michael Stahl
Work of the community association
The community association is shaped by the Reformation of Martin Luther and Pietism as well as by fundamental insights from the community movement. The members of the community association confess when they are accepted that they believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, recognize the Bible as the standard for their lives and promote the community with their gifts, abilities and financial means.
The church services (in some places: “community hour”) are the central events in the communities. The church service in the communities is often perceived as personal by guests. While the sermon is usually given by the full-time employee, it is mostly volunteers who lead through the service and contribute the other elements of the service. For children, there is usually a parallel care offer or a children's church service. Members hold Bible studies regularly . After the home Bible groups were not valued in the meantime, they are now available again in almost all communities. There are also groups of children, young people and teenagers. In several communities there are choirs (e.g. trombone choirs or guitar choirs ) for singing and making music together. Other music groups, bands and numerous different individual instruments also have their place in church services and other events.
The funds that the community association needs to carry out its tasks are raised voluntarily by its members and friends. The community association is financed in particular from membership fees and donations.
Structures
Full-time employees in the communities are preachers and, in some places, also a community teacher. These theological specialists, who are permanently employed by the community association, have completed a theological training. Most activities in the communities and also at association level are prepared and designed by volunteers.
Association Board
The association board consists of eight members. Six members (chairman, deputy chairman, cashier, deputy cashier, secretary, deputy secretary) are elected by the association members' meeting on the proposal of the community council. In addition, there is the inspector and the representative suggested by the full-time employees. The association board is responsible in particular for the management and management of the community association, the appointment of an inspector, the employment and transfer of full-time employees, the appointment of the representative of the full-time employees to the association board as well as the administration of the association's assets.
Community council
The community council consists of the association board, one representative from each community, the “EC Jugendverband Nordbund Decided for Christ e. V. "(EC-Nordbund) and the" Recreation and Education Center Wittensee e. V. “The community council advises the association board. He participates in the nominations for the association's executive board, in the appointment of the inspector and the representative of the full-time employees on the association's executive board, in the employment of full-time employees, in the establishment, merger and dissolution of communities as well as in the acquisition and sale of the property of the community association and the administration his fortune.
Association members meeting
The association member assembly is responsible for the basic spiritual attitude of the community association and oversees the organizational implementation of the tasks of the community association. It elects the members of the association's board, the community council and the cash auditors. It receives the annual report of the association's board, the annual accounts and the report of the cash auditor and decides on the discharge of the association's board, changes to the statutes and the dissolution of the association. All association members can take part in the association members' meeting, which takes place at least once a year. The community council, the full-time employees of the community association and the commissioners of the communities are entitled to vote (one person commissioned for every 20 members or part thereof).
Association chairman
The association chairman has the task of leading and managing the association's board, the community council and the association members' assembly. The duties of the association chairman have been performed by Enno Karstens since 1997.
inspector
The inspector is the spiritual director of the community association. He is more or less the superior of the preachers of the individual communities. Michael Stahl has been the inspector since 2017.
Communities
The members of the community association living in a certain local area form a community. This has no legal independence, but is part of the community association. In 2007, 17 communities belong to the community association.
The individual local communities are led by community boards. These consist of the chairman, the deputy chairman, the member of the community council, the full-time employees, the cashier, the secretary and those responsible for various departments. The members of the community boards to be elected are elected by the community members' meeting. The community boards also decide on the admission of members.
The community members' meetings are responsible for the spiritual attitude of the individual local communities and oversee the organizational implementation of the tasks of the individual local communities. The community members' meetings take place at least once a year. All members of the local community are entitled to vote.
Recreational and leisure facilities
In Karlsminde on the Baltic Sea, the community association operates the Karlsminde holiday camp. In 1960, an area on the Aassee was leased and built into a leisure camp in the following years.
The association has been running the "Wittensee recreation and education center" since 1981. The center is located in the Hüttener Berge nature reserve on the Wittensee. The holiday resort is designed for family and group camps, conferences and seminars lasting several days.
literature
- Association of the Communities in the Regional Church in Schleswig-Holstein e. V .: Reading book - Selected things from the history of the communities in Schleswig-Holstein , 2001, ISBN 3-831-12149-4
- Never leave , Festschrift 125 years of the Association of Communities in the Regional Church in Schleswig-Holstein e. V., 1982
- Heaven on Earth , Festschrift 150 Years of the Association of Communities in the Evangelical Church in Schleswig-Holstein e. V., 2007
- Wilhelm Sillem: Oertzen, Jasper von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 52, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1906, pp. 715-718.
Web links
credentials
- ↑ https://www.vg-sh.de/verein/satzung/aktuelle-vg-Satzung/
- ↑ Community Association Schleswig-Holstein adopts chairman , idea.de, message from May 4, 2018.